Armchair Imagineering - A New Future For "Soarin"...

[Steven Fonzi Brown]

Hi Friends!

I had an idea the other day. If this has already been proposed and discussed ad nauseum, I hope you'll forgive me.

For Soarin', I agree that Disney should use the idea that people have floated around about showing both Soarin' films on a rotation (similar to Star Tours).

HOWEVER, I had an idea to take this a step further...

I think Disney should not only have a rotation of Soarin Over California and Soarin Over The World, but they should also create a brand new film (or multiple films) called something like "Soarin With Heroes". Soarin With Heroes (or whatever it would be called), would give guests the chance to soar through aeronautical history, alongside famous aviators like Louis Bleriot, The Wright Brothers, Bessie Coleman, Charles Lindbergh, Harriet Quimby, Amelia Earhardt, Jerrie Mock, Jacqueline Cochran, Pancho Barnes, The Red Tails/Tuskegee Airmen, the WASPS (female military pilots in WWII), Jeana Yeager, Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, etc.

I'm aware Disney might be placed in awkward boat, considering that some famous pilots might not be considered "heroes" today based on their behavior, political views, etc. But this could be viewed in the same lens as their Hall Of Presidents in Disney World. It's more of a celebration of aeronautical accomplishment, rather than seriously trying to pick and choose the few "perfect" humans who somehow haven't done anything worthy of being canceled over.

But wouldn't something like this be an awesome idea? It believe it fits right in with the spirit of Soarin' and the Grizzly Peak Airfield. The queue especially is packed with aeronautical history.

This would give Disney a cool way to breathe fresh new life into the ride, and to keep it fresh going forward, as well as giving them a powerful way to pay tribute to the brave people of different genders, races, nationalities, etc who have risked everything to break barriers that would carve new paths in the sky for future generations of aviators to follow.

[MrGoat]

Gotta admit, the queue for Soarin' is one of my favorites (odd, I know). I really enjoy reading the plaques, wish there were more. Something like this could be really cool, though maybe not so picturesque.

[Chief Leaky War Canoe]

I think the OPs idea is a good one, but there is significant costs in producing the type of content he suggests. So, not sure if Disney looks at it that way; they crunch the numbers, do their analysis, and then conclude whether or not making something better will add significantly to the bottom line or not? And all of that has to be weighed against potential capital investments in other areas of the park(s) where the same money might net a higher return.

[Laugh-O-Grams]

I think the OPs idea is a good one, but there is significant costs in producing the type of content he suggests. So, not sure if Disney looks at it that way; they crunch the numbers, do their analysis, and then conclude whether or not making something better will add significantly to the bottom line or not? And all of that has to be weighed against potential capital investments in other areas of the park(s) where the same money might net a higher return.

[Jspider]

Hi Friends!

I had an idea the other day. If this has already been proposed and discussed ad nauseum, I hope you'll forgive me.

For Soarin', I agree that Disney should use the idea that people have floated around about showing both Soarin' films on a rotation (similar to Star Tours).

HOWEVER, I had an idea to take this a step further...

I think Disney should not only have a rotation of Soarin Over California and Soarin Over The World, but they should also create a brand new film (or multiple films) called something like "Soarin With Heroes". Soarin With Heroes (or whatever it would be called), would give guests the chance to soar through aeronautical history, alongside famous aviators like Louis Bleriot, The Wright Brothers, Bessie Coleman, Charles Lindbergh, Harriet Quimby, Amelia Earhardt, Jerrie Mock, Jacqueline Cochran, Pancho Barnes, The Red Tails/Tuskegee Airmen, the WASPS (female military pilots in WWII), Jeana Yeager, Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, etc.

I'm aware Disney might be placed in awkward boat, considering that some famous pilots might not be considered "heroes" today based on their behavior, political views, etc. But this could be viewed in the same lens as their Hall Of Presidents in Disney World. It's more of a celebration of aeronautical accomplishment, rather than seriously trying to pick and choose the few "perfect" humans who somehow haven't done anything worthy of being canceled over.

But wouldn't something like this be an awesome idea? It believe it fits right in with the spirit of Soarin' and the Grizzly Peak Airfield. The queue especially is packed with aeronautical history.

This would give Disney a cool way to breathe fresh new life into the ride, and to keep it fresh going forward, as well as giving them a powerful way to pay tribute to the brave people of different genders, races, nationalities, etc who have risked everything to break barriers that would carve new paths in the sky for future generations of aviators to follow.

More films would be fun though I feel it'll all be slow growing and beyond that with the Flying Theater being a good rival to the Soarin system it may be too easy to see local museums copy this idea?

I mean if you ever visit Seattle you can check out Wings over Washington which is a total Soarin over California replica except its Washington state lol. I suppose I'll actually take this aside to state I just moved from Washington to LA so I guess after YEARS of hanging on this forum I can be an actual local Californian like so many of you are ;P


My concerns here would be how you can personify the experience when if we're flying together the distance would make knowing these historical figures kinda pointless? I suppose they could do Soarin through moments in history though the effects work and pulling it off in decent Imax quality seems difficult though I guess Flight of Passage manages? (I haven't been on that one yet).

I remember back in the day there use to be talk about dressing the queue up with better aviation history and adding a projected sky effect over the indoor portion of the queue...


If I could be ridiculous in expense could you imagine a Soarin that had the old light up buttons from Horizons? Perhaps before pre boarding everyone has a light up screen and votes on locations and the system compiles a sequence from the aggregate vote. Even better would be to Easter egg a few of the Horizons endings into all that. I mean they could make Soarin's line impossible just by shoving Horizons endings in as only available on New Years XD

[BECCA1007]

The thing that I love about Soarin over California is the fact that it was filmed in real places and has a limited amount of CGI. I like the concept of another film but I think that Disney really missed the mark with Soarin over the World by having so much fake content and transitions. Obviously historical content would have to be computer generated.